Oriental Family Law: Case Study within a Gendered-Citizenship/Inequality Perspective: From Concept to Analytical Status

This article presents key findings and empirical work of basic research in Bahrain in regards to active citizenship and gender equality where it analyses the claimed liberal citizenship. The article focuses on pre-existing inequality in the family code and also discusses a significant issue where there is a Sunni-Shi’ite division in Bahrain. This is relevant to citizenship and gender equality for how family codes are debated in regards to women’s rights within the legislative authority. Furthermore, this article analyses the parliamentary organizational structure which attributes and influences the legislation process and decision-making particularly on gender-friendly policies, where the legal system can be used to encourage a liberal plan for all people and in particular women to have equal access to opportunities and resources

A Comparative Study in the MENA Region within Gender Equality Perspective

This article presents key findings of basic research in the MENA region via a comparative perspective of active citizenship and gender equality. The article discusses the pre-existing inequality in the family and presents a significant issue in Bahrain, for there is a Sunni-Shi’ite division, which Jordan does not have. This is relevant to citizenship and gender equality for how family codes have an effect on women’s political participation in both countries. The political participation will be analysed via women constitutional rights. Whether this right is really exercised in Jordan and Bahrain remains arguable. Other important issues are the state machinery point of view with regards to gender equality and the state implication of the international agreement, CEDAW, which is concerned with women’s human rights and their legal equality

Inequality Analyses of Gendering Jordanian Citizenship and Legislative Rights

Awareness has been recently increased about gender-based rights and citizenship in Jordan. Many of the issues concerning gender equality arise in the private sphere. Therefore, focusing on the politics of family law is important with regards to women’s rights in particular. Family law is the law related to matters such as polygamy, divorce, inheritance, child custody, guardianship and obedience. The effects are observed especially when Jordanian women try to exercise their granted constitutional political rights. It is the family (personal status) law that runs individual affairs within the private sphere in a patriarchal society where it affects also on exercising others’ rights in the public sphere. It still embodies and reinforces explicit discrimination against women and is enshrined in national legislations. For example, in private sphere family issues, women have to address the religious court, where decisions are based on the judge\u27s perspective. This study is an attempt to analyze the current personal status (family) law. Much of the available local literature in Jordan is purely theoretical, and systematic empirical studies with strong gender analyses are devastatingly absent. Therefore, semi-structured interviews using purposeful sampling that encompassed a range of elite actors involved in these issues–from academics to politicians and civil society activists – were conducted. A reputation-based snowball sampling method, a technique for finding research subjects by referral from one subject to the next, was used. Interviews of elite actors were conducted to collect the qualitative primary data, while the secondary sources represent document analyses, such as national and international documents like the Jordanian Constitution, agreements, laws, regulations, articles and books. This study concluded that Jordan has to establish both a public sphere and private sphere (e.g. the family domain, where women are primarily located) as an ideology in the corresponding laws and Constitution, because the modernization or liberalization of laws is an essential process for empowering individuals, particularly women in Jordan. This means that the laws and basic human rights need to be taken seriously and reconstructed for each development or evolution era for the citizens\u27 benefit rather than just as a display for the international community showing fake modernity